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What is the blog?

This blog was created to document the process of creating the museum exhibit Botanica: A Pharmacy For the Soul. From the first post we see the ideas of the exhibit developing, continuing up the ideas become reality as I listen to the words of my family, apply for grants, collect materials, catalog the collection, involve my students and the IU community, and finally curate the exhibit. Enjoy!

Some Things to Know

I realize while reading this blog you may need to know some of the terms used in the interviews:
Lela is short for Abuela which means Grandmother in Spanish.
Titi is short for Tia which means Aunt in Spanish.
Tio means Uncle.

Elias and Selina

About Me

I am a graduate student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Bloomington. Five years ago I began a project with my abuela, documenting her life as a Puerto Rican espiritista healer. Since we began I have made a short video about cooking Sancocho, curated an installation about her spiritual use of domestic spaces, and recorded hours of video and audio footage in which she speaks about her life and powers.
Currently I am working with my grandmother to curate an exhibit in which we will create a replica of a botánica she owned when I was a child. This project is dedicated to my family.